FBI Security Review Team To Meet Next Month
Government Executive Magazine
By Kellie Lunney
August 29, 2001
A group of former government leaders tapped to review FBI security policies will meet for the first time next month, according to a notice published in the Federal Register Tuesday.
Earlier this month, Attorney General John Ashcroft authorized the creation of a commission to study security policies for sensitive and classified information at the FBI. The commission, which will be chaired by William H. Webster, former director of the FBI and CIA, includes seven former government leaders and one designated federal officer.
The commission will review the quality of the FBI’s current security policies and programs and recommend how the agency can improve its handling of classified information.
Members of the commission include: William S. Cohen, Secretary of Defense in the Clinton administration; former Speaker of the House Thomas S. Foley, D-Wash.; and Carla Hills, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Ford administration.
The commission will receive administrative support from the Justice Department and funding from the FBI. According to the Justice Department, the commission will need about $1.2 million to cover its costs.
The commission must complete its work by March 31, but the Justice Department can extend its term, according to the group’s charter.
All of the commission’s meetings will be closed to the public to protect sensitive information and the safety of intelligence personnel, according to a July 16 memo from the Justice Department.
“The potential release of this information could seriously jeopardize the integrity of our internal security programs and of ongoing intelligence and counterintelligence investigations,” wrote Janis Sposate, acting assistant attorney general for administration at Justice, in the memo.
In July, Justice and FBI officials revealed that more than 400 weapons and 180 laptop computers--including some holding sensitive and classified information--were missing from the agency. The FBI has faced harsh criticism over the last few months, most notably for its failure to turn over all documents to lawyers for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, a controversy that resulted in a temporary postponement of McVeigh’s execution.
The consulting firm Arthur Andersen LLP is currently conducting a review of the FBI’s management practices, including recordkeeping, technology and human resources issues.
FBI management plagued by arrogance, witnesses say
Former Speakers Caught With Booty
Insight Magazine
By Paul M. Rodriguez
September 11, 1998
Nervous House GOP leaders confront retired Democratic speakers concerning disappeared historical treasures. Rostenkowski precedent raises legal and ethical issues. Methodically but quietly during recent months, investigators for the House of Representatives have been tracking down priceless treasures and lesser baubles that have been taken from Capitol Hill by former speakers, including Thomas Foley, the current U.S. ambassador to Japan.
The missing items range from the marble balustrades that once stood sentinel in the well of the House to handmade chandeliers and historically precious antique clocks, rugs, furniture, crystal and silverware.
"It is quite amazing the range of things taken," says one of several sources in the House and a Cabinet-level department who are familiar with the search. "In some cases we're talking about literally stripping the walls of fixtures," says a second source. Members of both parties, the sources spoke to Insight on condition of anonymity.
The second source says the quiet recovery mission was launched early this year after Boston College contacted the House about the historical significance of an antique grandfather clock and other items "donated" by the family of former speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, the Massachusetts Democrat who retired in 1986.
As a result of that call a highly sensitive probe was launched by the House Republican leadership and the House Oversight Committee, led by GOP Rep. Bill Thomas of California. What the probers found, congressional and other sources say, confirmed the worst rumors about what former speakers had carted away as "spoils of war."
Because of the criminal conviction of former Rep. Dan Rostenkowski of Illinois, the once-powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, House leaders worried about opening up a can of legal worms by probing too deeply for the missing booty lest it lead to widespread prosecutions of former committee chairmen and other panjandrums.
Insight's sources say that after hush-hush debate a decision was made to limit any review to just the former speakers because they were covered by rules adopted in 1994 that sunset speakers' perks, including the use of "borrowed" congressional equipment. A separate rule dating back to 1972 had allowed speakers to take equipment and furniture for their retirement offices, but only until those offices were closed, presumably at death. Under the new rule the date for returning borrowed items was set at five years -- sooner if, like Foley, a former speaker took another government job.
Once the call came in from Boston College, House leaders and investigators quickly realized they had little or no accounting of what former speakers had taken with them. After scouring the country for the missing treasures, what they found was even more astonishing than the scuttlebutt.
In the case of former speaker Sam Rayburn, the investigators discovered the Texas Democrat had taken the hand-carved marble balustrades from the well of the House, assorted marble fireplace mantels, antique mirrors, wall sconces and an ornate chandelier bought by Ulysses S. Grant and hung at the White House for decades before being moved to a ceremonial office in the House. O'Neill had taken an antique grandfather clock, handsome furniture and the chair used by seven consecutive speakers, including himself. After being pressed, former speaker James Wright led investigators to treasures he had taken after resigning in June 1989 following a massive ethics probe that charged him with serious wrongdoing. The missing items, mostly furniture, were secreted in a warehouse at Texas Christian University. What Wright or other former speakers may have stashed at their personal residences has not been determined.
But it is the boodle secreted by Foley that has raised the most eyebrows and, in turn, concerns about potential prosecution, according to sources on Capitol Hill and at the State Department. "The sheer volume of what was found" in a warehouse at Washington State University "was mind-boggling," said a source. "We're not talking just a few pieces of furniture, like a desk and some chairs to furnish an office. We're talking big pieces, like huge antique wall units with historical importance to the House."
A source in the House leadership says it's understandable that older speakers may have taken liberties in removing House property given the plantationlike mentality that once existed on Capitol Hill. But not Foley, on whose watch so many major ethics scandals and reforms occurred prior to his ouster from office in 1994 as part of the Republican sweep.
"It's bothersome, this Foley issue," admitted a senior Democrat. "It's not like he didn't know the rules.... What you're telling me was found in some warehouse just doesn't make sense. How do you justify antiques and multiples of furniture that wouldn't fit into even a suite of offices? It sounds like what Rosty did," the member said, referring to Rostenkowski.
A House legal expert added: "Once [Foley] became ambassador he gave up any perks he had as speaker and should have returned everything to the House." When asked if that occurred, the expert said it hadn't. Asked if Foley had informed the House of either the quantity or quality of goods he had taken with him, another House official said: "We never had a clue he had taken so many valuables until this came up after the O'Neill deal."
Attempts to reach Foley and Wright were unsuccessful by publication time. An aide to Speaker Newt Gingrich said the Georgia Republican was aware of the matter and of the potential legal issues.
Mad yet?